Consumer Reports is a highly respected consumer focused company that looks out for the everyday shopper. They are well respected, and renowned for their unbiased reviews and objectivity when it comes to finding the pros and cons of any products they review. Digital cameras is just one such product they report on every year.

With so many digital cameras for the modern shopper to choose from, it’s understandable that it can be difficult to know, that your getting good value for your money. Reliable and unbiased reviews can be hard to find, which is why many shoppers turn to companies like Consumer Reports.

If digital camera sales were any indication of what the best brand was, then according to Amazon.com Canon would be a clear winner. As I write this, Canon manufactures 18 of the top 25 bestselling cameras on their best seller list. In addition, Canon holds 9 of the top 10 spots, with the top 3 being the PowerShot A570 IS, the PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph, and the PowerShot SD850. Sharing the top 11 spots with Canon are 2 of the Pure Video manufactured Flip Video cameras. Nikon has 2 cameras in the top 25 including the Nikon D40, and the Nikon D300. Panasonic sneaks in with a couple of their Lumix models, specifically the DMC-TZ3K and the DMC-TZ3A. And finishing in a strong 25th spot, that old stalwart Kodak with the Easyshare Z812IS.

The very thorough battery of tests reveal some common traits about certain types of cameras. Types of cameras being sub compact cameras, automatic point and shoot cameras, and digital slr cameras. Automatic point and shoots tend to produce grainier images, and tend to struggle in low lighting conditions. This is usually due to cheaper lens quality. A problem overcome by many SLRs, even the lower priced beginner DSLRs. SLRs have interchangeable lens, and can be more expensive, but come with extra flexibility for the aspiring photographer.

Another common issue found with the compact and sub-compact models, is slow shutter speed, and lag time before allowing users to take subsequent pictures. They are getting better though. Once again, the SLRs as expected perform better in the area of speed, and low lag times. A common criticism of the SLRs in the past, has been their lack of automatic functions, difficult learning curve, no video function, and an inability to use the LCD screen to frame your photos. This is changing, and several models of SLR have learned from their point and shoot siblings, and offer most of these features. One of the more popular, would be the Canon Rebel Xsi.

A few other highly regarded cameras from the reports include the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200, Casio Exilm EX-S10, and the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. Between educating digital camera buyers, and providing expert opinion on the best SLR, compact, and sub-compact cameras available, consumer reports, makes it pretty much guaranteed to make a good camera buying decision. Armed with this kind of information, the consumer really just needs to think about how they plan to use their digital camera, and how much money they want to spend.

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